MALAPPURAM: The attempt of a research team to unravel the mystery of high incidence of multiple births at Kodinhi, a small village here, is gaining momentum thanks to support of a couple of outside agencies and educated local youths. A preliminary survey, being carried out with the co-operation of students, is nearing completion and available data has already helped identify more than 150 pairs of twins in the region.
An in-depth study on each of these pairs will be initiated soon after the formation of a cluster that consists of parents of twins here. M K Sreebiju, who guides the research, said environmental, as much as genetic, factors would be the focus of their study. Women who migrated from other regions to Kodinhi too have been giving birth to twins “and that tends to further confirm our hypothesis,” he said.
With an estimated population of 14,669 people, Kodinhi comprises seven wards under Nannambra panchayat with a total of 2,069 residences.
What made the researchers mine the area was that no part of the world, except certain areas in Nigeria and Spain, has reported such extraordinary concentration of twin births.
Although the phenomenon has been a talking point these past six years, an inquiry into the real cause of the ‘twin-effect’ was losing steam midway. “Experts who probed a similar case among tribals in Nigeria have identified the high amounts of follicle-stimulating hormone in black women as the reason. But, here the details needed to be studied,” Sreebiju said.
“Monozygotic and dizygotic types of twins are generally seen in the world. However, in Kodinhi it’s predominantly the dizygotic type, which is not as universal as the former,” he said. The research team is now preparing to go deeper into various aspects of dizygotic twins, who may not be similar in shape or structure.
Interestingly, the study will also look hard at a similar phenomenon in cattle in the region, according to sources.